Lil Keke

Lil' Keke is one of Houston's most influential underground rappers - he's been in the game since 1993 - and is now set to become a nationwide phenomenon. While not a yet a household name in national rap circles, Lil' Keke is well known as one of the most talented rappers in the eclectic Houston, Texas rap scene. Early in his rap career, Keke became a member of the Screwed Up Click, a loose-knit Houston rap collective that started the careers of fellow artists ... More >

Biography

Lil' Keke is one of Houston's most influential underground rappers - he's been in the game since 1993 - and is now set to become a nationwide phenomenon. While not a yet a household name in national rap circles, Lil' Keke is well known as one of the most talented rappers in the eclectic Houston, Texas rap scene. Early in his rap career, Keke became a member of the Screwed Up Click, a loose-knit Houston rap collective that started the careers of fellow artists Trae and Lil' Flip.

The Screwed Up Click was spearheaded in the early 1990's by DJ Screw, a prominent Houston-based producer who put the Houston scene on the map with his many mixtapes. DJ Screw is credited with inventing the "chopped and screwed" method of production, which involves slowing down and remixing the song in an intentionally choppy manner. The chopped and screwed method has since become a hallmark of the Houston style, and is featured prominently in the work of Paul Wall and Mike Jones, among others. Before his untimely death in 2000 due to a drug overdose, Lil' Keke produced a host of albums with DJ Screw, including Don't Mess With Texas and It Was All A Dream, both released on the regionally recognized Jam Down Records label.

Over the next five years Lil' Keke gained momentum by releasing a plethora of underground mixtapes and appearing on the albums of a number of other Houston rappers, including Slim Thug and Bun B. In 2006 Lil' Keke signed a record deal with prominent independent label Swishahouse Records, owned by renowned DJ Michael 5000 Watts. Lil' Keke plans to release his first full-length major album Loved By Few, Hated By Many on Swishahouse in mid 2008.

Though the album drops soon, it was preceded by two hit singles that made waves in the music industry. The first, "Chunk up tha Deuce" (Houston slang for flashing the two-finger peace sign - a gesture of goodwill) featuring UGK was released in 2006; becoming a nationwide hit. The second single off the album "I'm a G" featuring Birdman fared similarly, with both serving to introduce Houston's hottest unknown rapper to the rest of the nation.

Lil Keke (born Marcus Lakee Edwards, 1976) is a rapper from Houston, Texas who is an emcee and member of the Screwed Up Click. Lil' Keke proved himself to be one of the collective's strongest artists, strongly aligning himself with the city's underground rap don of the south. Not only by appearing on countless "Screwed" DJ mixes but also a seemingly endless number of other albums to come out of the South, he also became one of Houston's most visible rappers, releasing solo albums for Jam Down Entertainment.